Getting back into editing after a 5 year gap!

[years]

Hey everybody, it's Years, some of you might remember me as the creator of Nihility: Infinite Teeth, which somehow won a caco. I'm back I guess!

It's been 5 years since I've done *any* doom editing or mapping.
Basically, after my windows computer died, I got onto mac to do music, but of course there isn't many programs on there for doom mapping/editing (afaik) and I simply couldn't get wine to work well. And also my mac had a tiny HDD's so partitioning wasn't great etc

Now I have a new windows laptop and I want to get back into things and I have no idea where to start in 2022.

-Whats the latest and best map editor? Is it Doom Builder still? Some new fork? (Ideally for vanilla/limit removing)
-Is Slade3 still a thing? What to use for resource editing and dehacking? Any new programs?
-Image editing? I don't have photoshop anymore and never found it great for making textures and sprites. Is there some cool (free/cheap) replacement?
-Any good maps you'd recommend me in my absence? I have barely played much doom in the last 5 years. 

-Best vanilla or boomy source port? I used PRboom back in the day, but it didn't seem stable recently, is there a new one?
-How to get back into mapping 'psychologically' after a big break? My life is totally different now and I can't remember my old mindset.

I'd like to start with a single new map and get back into the community but feeling overwhelmed at the prospect! Oh and fix the bugs in Nihility lol.

Hopefully this question is relevant and not too weird or anything, but yeah... hi again everybody!

[Kinsie]

Welcome back!

 

28 minutes ago, years said:

-Whats the latest and best map editor? Is it Doom Builder still? Some new fork? (Ideally for vanilla/limit removing)

Ultimate Doom Builder is the current state of the art. While a lot of its focus is on fancy new source port features, it can handle vanilla and limit-removing stuff with gusto.

 

28 minutes ago, years said:

-Is Slade3 still a thing? What to use for resource editing and dehacking? Any new programs?

SLADE3 is, in fact, still a thing.

 

28 minutes ago, years said:

-Any good maps you'd recommend me in my absence? I have barely played much doom in the last 5 years.

The Cacowards are here to fill you in.

 

28 minutes ago, years said:

-Best vanilla or boomy source port? I used PRboom back in the day, but it didn't seem stable recently, is there a new one?

PRBoom+UM and DSDA-Doom seem to be carrying that particular torch.

[Omniarch]

Hi years! As a big fan of Nihility, it's very cool to see your return :)

 

40 minutes ago, years said:

-Whats the latest and best map editor? Is it Doom Builder still? Some new fork? (Ideally for vanilla/limit removing)

At the moment, Ultimate Doom Builder seems to be the most popular map editor. It's a very advanced application with an array of GZDoom-specific features, though it's also widely used for vanilla or Boom maps. Doom Builder X is a more minimalist successor to DB2, which I have heard good things about, but haven't used personally.

 

40 minutes ago, years said:

-Is Slade3 still a thing? What to use for resource editing and dehacking? Any new programs?

Yes, it very much is afaik. For dehacked, WhackEd4 is the best GUI editor I know of, though the most promising development in this regard has to be Decohack utility packaged with DoomTools, which allows you to write Decorate-style code and convert it into a dehacked patch.

 

40 minutes ago, years said:

-Image editing? I don't have photoshop anymore and never found it great for making textures and sprites. Is there some cool (free/cheap) replacement?

I am not at all well-versed in this area, but I know quite a few artists who swear by Clip Studio Paint, a relatively cheap Japanese alternative to Photoshop. It's better for drawing than PS, from what I've heard, but not as good at photo-editing.

 

40 minutes ago, years said:

-Any good maps you'd recommend me in my absence? I have barely played much doom in the last 5 years. 

There's been a deluge of content since then, so recommending a reasonable number of wads is impossible. That said, No End In Sight and Lost Civilization are my favourite releases from that period. Both are awe-inspiring and atmospheric adventures across a range of interesting settings.

 

40 minutes ago, years said:

-Best vanilla or boomy source port? I used PRboom back in the day, but it didn't seem stable recently, is there a new one?

DSDA-Doom seems to have emerged as the go-to standard when it comes to Boom stuff, and demo-recording in general. Woof! is another alternative which I am quite fond of. Both support the new MBF21 complevel and UMAPINFO functionality. For vanilla / lim-rem, my personal favourite is definitely Crispy Doom, which has a very nice balance of QoL features and vanilla feel.

Edited January 2, 2022 by Omniarch

[ChopBlock223]

Wow, a belated Christmas present, and the best one!

 

I'll second Ultimate Doombuilder, very convenient, it should be like you remember, Slade3 as well.

There's incidentally been a lot of development of Boom family ports over the last two years, with bugfixes, UMAPINFO, and a DeHacked which doesn't require you to sacrifice existing assets or actors. But perhaps you're more interested in Vanilla/Limit Removing for your maps, I'm not sure.

 

I personally use an old shitty version of Photoshop for my graphics needs, but you can certainly do berter, I'm just sticking with what I know.

 

Best vanilla sourceport to me is Crispy Doom. Limit removing, and has some convenient features one would want, but not mountains of them. The new official ports are, after a rough launch and then some dilligent patching, actually pretty fantastic. On a computer I think Crispy Doom is a better option still, but on console, I would say they are the best console ports of Doom ever made, simply because they're accurate, have nice features like Crispy, and occasionally has a cool new mapset curated for it.

 

For some great .wads from the past five years, I guess I'll say Rekkr, Skulltiverse, and Sigil.

 

Wishing you well and looking forward to your future work.

[years]

Thanks everybody! I still got to set up my computer for this but I'll get there.
 

On 1/2/2022 at 8:31 PM, Kinsie said:

PRBoom+UM and DSDA-Doom seem to be carrying that particular torch.

 

DSDA doom seemed good, but the version I got had an error with the area map, hope they fix that soon.
 

On 1/4/2022 at 12:28 AM, ChopBlock223 said:

I'll second Ultimate Doombuilder, very convenient, it should be like you remember, Slade3 as well.

There's incidentally been a lot of development of Boom family ports over the last two years, with bugfixes, UMAPINFO, and a DeHacked which doesn't require you to sacrifice existing assets or actors. But perhaps you're more interested in Vanilla/Limit Removing for your maps, I'm not sure.

Is this the MBF 21? I'd be very interested in a more flexible dehacked, even at the cost of it not being exactly vanilla. I got the most out of dehacked before by making a mod for Udoom and using all the unused D2 states for additional monsters, sounds, frames etc. It's ok, but inelegant. Whats this new dehacked called?

[ChopBlock223]

MBF21 would be the map format which is an expanded and upgraded Boom format.

Just like normal Boom, it also allows one to create simple "scripts" with VooDoo Dolls, or if you have the patience for it, more complex, even repeatable "scripted" actions.

 

The new extended DeHacked format would be DEHEXTRA, which you can edit using MTrop's DecoHack utility. You use it to write your things in an easy to understand and read Decorate-esque language, and then the program "compiles" it into the mess the engine understands as a DeHacked or DEHEXTRA patch. Or maybe you already understand how to read and write DeHacked lumps as they are, but I think most would choose a nice program like DecoHack.

 

PrBoom+ and DSDA supports DEHEXTRA currently. GzDoom has partial support (to my understanding, anyway, as Ad Mortem didn't work right in GzDoom), but probably it will get completed support in enough time, as people are using it for their cool MBF21 maps which everyone wants to play.

 

The last two years have had a lot of cool developments for modding.

[SMG_Man]

On 1/2/2022 at 2:56 AM, years said:

-Image editing? I don't have photoshop anymore and never found it great for making textures and sprites. Is there some cool (free/cheap) replacement?

 

I find GIMP pretty handy for editing graphics, but I'm not really in the business of drawing sprites or anything from scratch.

[Mr.Rocket]

Don't forget the slew of new utilities that @jval's made recently!

[ChopBlock223]

On 1/12/2022 at 3:22 PM, ChopBlock223 said:

PrBoom+ and DSDA supports DEHEXTRA currently. GzDoom has partial support (to my understanding, anyway, as Ad Mortem didn't work right in GzDoom),

Might have confused DEHEXTRA with DsDeHacked, here. Not the first time I've done that.

 

Also someone made a cool utility for drawing and editing ENDOOM screens, called ENDEDIT. It can even import and convert images into ENDOOM screens.

[Mr.Rocket]

29 minutes ago, ChopBlock223 said:

Also someone made a cool utility for drawing and editing ENDOOM screens, called ENDEDIT. It can even import and convert images into ENDOOM screens.

 

That would be @jval. ;)

The utility can be found here, along with several other programs he's made recently.

[ChopBlock223]

Right. What a resourceful and helpful lad!

[Kyka]

On 1/2/2022 at 7:56 PM, years said:

-Image editing? I don't have photoshop anymore and never found it great for making textures and sprites. Is there some cool (free/cheap) replacement?

 

First off, welcome back. :)

 

Second off, GIMP is an amazing (and free) graphics program. I have been using it for years for Doom related stuff, and it really does well for that. Easy to use, and tutorials all over the place.

 

https://www.gimp.org/downloads/

 

 

On 1/2/2022 at 7:56 PM, years said:

-How to get back into mapping 'psychologically' after a big break? My life is totally different now and I can't remember my old mindset.

 

 

The two suggestions I would make is

-Play through lots of levels, and if you see anything you like, take a screenshot. Eventually you will end up with a big folder full of screenshots that inspire you. Copy those areas, and you will find that your copy looks nothing like the original, because as you build it, it will take on a life of its own.

-keep a notebook to write down all of your ideas, and again over time, you will wind up with a vast list of ideas/sketches/concepts that you can build on.

 

Good luck! :)

 

[rzh]

On 1/2/2022 at 10:56 AM, years said:

which somehow won a caco.

Because it was, and is, one of the best .wads ever made.

Welcome back!